Cholesterol-Lowering Foods

Written by heather rutherford

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High cholesterol contributes greatly to heart disease and stroke. For this reason, when a diagnosis of high cholesterol is given, it is crucially important to regain control of your cholesterol as fast as possible. While many medications are now available to help lower cholesterol, it is also important to add these cholesterol-lowering foods to your diet for a long-term solution.

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Fibre

Foods like oatmeal, whole-grain breads and most fruits and vegetables have high amounts of fibre. Fibre has the ability to catch any cholesterol before it enters the bloodstream and cleanses the bad cholesterol out of the body.

B Vitamins

Dr. Raymond Lombardi performed a study showing that folic acid, B6 and B12 vitamins all help in lowering cholesterol. Foods rich in these B vitamins include spinach, beans, peas, sunflower seeds and many fortified breakfast cereals.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids have powerful cholesterol-lowering properties. All fish contains some of these omega-3s; however, herring, salmon, trout, tuna and sardines boast the highest supplies.

Plant Sterols

Many fortified foods like margarine and juice are now boasting plant sterols and stanols. These cholesterol-lowering foods act in much the same way as fibre. The sterols and stanols prevent cholesterol from entering the bloodstream by flushing the cholesterol out of the body.

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

These fatty acids are found in cholesterol-lowering nuts and legumes such as walnuts, almonds and soya beans. Polyunsaturated fatty acids help healthy blood vessels flourish and have been shown to reduce the bad cholesterol known as low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, by 12 per cent.